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3 Sheets-Sheet 1.'

(No Model.) A

o. W. DBLON.v LAUNGHINVG BOATS IN SERIES.

No. 399,848. Patented Mar. 19,- 1889.

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3 Sheets-Sheet 9.

C. W. DELON.

LAUNGHING BOATS 1N SERIES.

(No Model.)

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

- C. W. DELON.

LAUNGHING BOATS IN SRIES.

No. 399,848. Patented Mar. 19, 1889.

lll v ,i I lm `""llgl'ivrirnn @rares armar CHARLES lYILlilAhl DELON, OF VVISCASSET, MAINE, ASSIGUOR TO THE AMERI- CAN SHIP XVTNDLASS COMPANY, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

LAUNCHING BOATS IN SERIES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 399,848, dated March 19, 18559.

Application tiled October 8, 1888l Serial No. 287,458. (No model.)

To @ZZ wiz/077i, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES WILLIAM Dn- LON, a citizen o the lfnited States, residing at lViscasset'-, in the county ot Lincoln and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful lmprovcm ents in Mechanism for lHandling Ships Boats; and l do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to ships, and its object is to provide an eliicient and sate mode of launching a ships boats.

An important point that has heretofore been overlooked by many inventors in this line is the necessity of launching the boat so far from the side that no ordinary sea will, throw her against the vessel. Furthermore, it is found that the loss of life in marine disasters is due not so much to carelessness or inetticiency of the crew as to the impracticability of the boats gear. The crew have to overhaul and manipulate a quantity of more or less complicated gearing, and at the saine time take care of the passengers, whose frantic endeavors to save themselves impede and frustrate the efforts ot the crew.

lily invention aims to accomplish two results: llist, to swing the boat so lar from the side oli' the vessel that no ordinary sea will bilge her; second, to handle all the boats from a central station and by one man,leaving the crew to attend to the passengers and see that they are properly looked after. An arrangement ot mechanism for carrying out these objects is shown in the drawings, in 'which- Figure l is a plan view ot' a portion of a vessels deck, showing boats at each side. Fig. 2 is aside view, partly broken away. Fig. 3 is an end view, partly inV section. Figs. et, 5, and 7 are details on an enlarged scale.

The same letters relier to the same parts in all the iigures.

Each boat A is slung upon a davit, B, which is Y-shaped, the arms of the Y being curved outwardly to overhang the middle line oli' the boat near each end thereof. The ends of the arms may be united by a brace, iil' desired. The davit is hinged at the foot to a suitable bearing, C, secured to the main deck, and is normally inclined outwardly, extending up through a slot, f7, cut atlnvartship in the deck D, that carries the boats. lhen in this position, the arms of the davit are tar enoughV inboard to allow the boat to be supported in saddles E, which take the weight of the boat 6o oft the davits. The saddles rest loosely on the deck; but they are provided with short safetychains c. Each davit is capable of swinging outboard in a plane perpendicular to the side of the ship, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3. In moving to its outward position it carries the boat far enough from the ship to give it plenty of sea-room when lowered. To move the davit out andin, I prefer the mechanism shown in the d 1awings-that 7o is to say, a rack, F, sliding in a guide, G, fastened to the under side of the deck D and actuated by a pinion, ll, to which power is applied. The rack carries at its outer end a sleeve, f, which slides freely on the davit B, to 7 5 permit the latter to rise and fall as it swings in or out. The guide G may be composed of two flanged plates to engage the edges et' the rack, said plates being secured on either side ot the slot d, in which the davit plays.

A shaft, l, runs along each side of the ship under the deck D, correspondin g in length with that portion ot' the ships side occupied by the boats. lhese shafts carry the pinions ll', which are secured thereto by set-screws Il, and can be slid to one side in case any particular davit is not to be operated. Suitable clutches may be used instead ot' the set-screws, and the clutch maybe operated from the deck above, it desired. The shaftsl are united bya cross- 9o shaft, K, and bevel-gearingr, at any convenient point, preferably under the bridge. On the shaft K is a gear-wheel, l, controlled by a clutch, as shown, lneshing with a master-gear,

, 2, on the engine-shaft ot' a winch, preferably 95 a steam-winch, located on the deck at this point. rlhe master-gear 2 also drives one or more gears, 3, secured to shafts on which are loosely mounted drums L, each of which is provided with a clutch, M, to lock it to the roo shaft, and with a friction bandfbrake, N, to regulate its speed of revolution when loose on the shaft.

On each drum are wound the falls a of one of the boats A, to which they are attached by anv of the usual detaching devices. Each fall leads over sheaves b on the arms of the davits, down to a sheave, b, at the foot of the davit, thence up over sheaves fastened to the under side of the deck to the drum assigned to it. Suitable guards or sheathing may be provided to protect the falls from the weather and from being tampered with.

To prevent any unauthorized person from launching a boat, each boat is lashed to the deck by two ropes, 0, or, preferably, chains, the outer ends of which are fastened to the deck. The lashings are passed over the boat and terminate in an eye or thimble, 0, which is received between the arms of a fork, I), rising from the deck. The arms of the fork vare apertured transversely, and through the apertures plays the upper end of ahook-shaped lever, R, which is fulcrumed in suitable bearings, r, and is pivoted at its lower end to a rod, S, of which there are two, one on each side of the ship, ruiming along under all the boats.

It is evident that upon moving the rods all the levers will be vibrated, withdrawing the hooks from the eyes in the lashings and leaving the boats free to be launched. To this end each rod S is coupled to a bell-crank lever, T, which is united by a cord, U, to a lever, V, projecting up through the deck near the steam-winch. The lever V may be provided with a latch, t, and a notched quadrant, e', to hold it.

The operation is as follows: Upon an alarm of iire or other emergency, the captain steps upon the bridge and the winch-engineer takes his stat-ion immediately7 underneath. The respective boat-crews go to their positions, and without concerning themselves about the gearing proceed to assist the passengers into the boats, they, as well as the passengers, being powerless to launch any of the boats. XVhen all the beats are reported ready, with crews and passengers aboard, the captain gives the winch-engineer the order Launch The engineer throws over the lever V, releasing the lashings of all the boats simultai'ieously. Ile then starts the engine, and with three or four turns runs out all the racks. As the davits swing outboard, they lift the boats from the saddles, but not out of them, the saddles being dragged to the edge of the deck, where they remain, as shown in the dotted lines in Fig. 3, ready to receive the keels of the boats upon their return. The boats can be swung ten feet or more from the ships side, if desired. The vwinch-engineer or his assistant now grasps the clutch and brake handles of the drum controlling the falls of boat No. I, and at the command of the captain throws off the clutch and allows the falls to run out. The other boats are similarly lowered in succession, and all can be launched in less time than is usually occupied in getting them ready with the gearing commonly used. Ihen the boats are to be. hoisted on board again, the gear-wheel l is unclutehcd from the shaft II, and the winch can then be operated without actuating the racks F, enabling any or all of the drums L to be rotated to take in the falls c. The boats having been hoisted, the gear l is again locked to its shaft, and the shafts I are rotated to run in the racks and. swing the davits carrying the boats back into their slots.

Having thus described my iiiventiomwhatI claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

l. The combination, with a vessel provided with two or more boats along the side, of a movable davit for each boat, a reciprocating rack joined to 'each davit, a shaft extending lengthwise of the vessel adjacent to all the davits and carrying pinions engaging with the racks, and mechanism, substantially as described, for rotating the shaft, and thereby actuating all the davits simultaneously.

2. The combination, with a vessel, of two or more boats, suitable lashings for securing each boat, provided with detachable fastenings, and a rod connecting said fastenings, and extending to a central station for releasing said fastenings simultaneously, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with avessel, of two or more davits movable in a vertical plane perpendicular to the side of the vessel and provided with suitable boat-falls leading to a central station, a rack and pinion for moving each davit, a connected series of shafts for rotating the pinions extending to the central station, and suitable mechanism located at the central station for operating both the falls and the shafts, substantially as described.

ai. The combination, with a vessel, of two or more davits provided with suitable boat-falls leading to a central station, suitable lashings for the boats provided with detachable fastenings, a rod uniting said fastenings extending to and adapted to be actuated from the central station, and mechanism located at said station for operating the boat-falls, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the movable davit B, of the rack F, attached to the davit, the pinion Il', meshing with the rack, the shaft I, carrying the pinion, the shafts I and K, the bevel-gears uniting the shafts, and means for rotating the shaft K, substantially as' described.

G. The combination, with the hinged davit B, of the slotted deck l), the rack F, having a sleeve, j', encircling the davit, the guide-bars G, located on each side of the slot and receiving the rack F, the pinion II, meshing with the rack and adjustably secured tothe shaft I, and means for rotating the shaft, substantially as described.

'7. The combination, with a series of davits, B, provided with sheaves l) b', of the series of IOO IIO

the hooks, and ineans for simultaneously actuating the rod, and thereby withdrawing all the hooks and releasing all the lashings, substantially as described.

Si. The combination, with a ships boat, of a lashing, O, secured at one end tothe deck, and havin at its other end an eye, o, a trans- \erselyeapertured fork, P, receiving said eye, a hook-shaped lever, R, engaging with said fork and eye, a rod, S, coupled to the lever R,

an operating-lever, V, and connections between the rod and the operating-lever, substantially as described.

10; The combination, with a series of ships boats, each suspended on a movable davit, of a rack and pinion for inoving each davit, shafting carrying the pinions, a winch located at a central station, detachably connected with the shafting, and provided with several independently-actuated drums to receive and operate the several boat-falls, a series of lash* ings for securing the boats detachably connected to a series of hooks, an operating-lever near the Winch, and connections between said hooks and said lever, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I alix iny signature in presence of two Witnesses.

CHARLES WILLIAM DELON.

Vitiiesses:

WALTER F. ANGELL, EDWIN METCALF, 

